


Empathy

by lil_robins



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Justice League - All Media Types, Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe- Freaky Friday, Empathy 2: the remix, M/M, Not Beta Read, Not Canon Compliant, Slow Burn, Who even knows, definitely not me, is this gonna be a freaky friday au?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-16 19:32:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15444258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lil_robins/pseuds/lil_robins
Summary: Clark is worried about Bruce. He's not sleeping and the nightmares... god, Clark can hear them a city away. He's going to figure out what's wrong with his friend, a learn a few things about himself and his relationship with the caped crusader in the process.





	Empathy

**Author's Note:**

> hey there friends. so i had previously written this story over a year ago and kinda lost steam. life got busy and I lost track of time. I decided to rewrite it because I felt like i could've done a lot better and needed to know where the story was headed before writing random scenes that don't flow very well. you readers deserve a better story! so here's hoping the new version actually gets written! thanks so much for reading

Clark couldn’t take it anymore.

Normally, he´d be thankful for his hearing. There were countless times where the sense alone saved countless lives. Just last week, it had alerted him to a bomb in Metropolis Municipal Bank and he was able to destroy it before anyone got hurt. So yes, he´d normally thank this earth’s yellow sun for his abilities. And it has been a lifetime since he had learned how to tune out all the overwhelming noises that penetrated his thoughts. But it was times like this, when he anxious and tired, with little energy to focus, that made Clark feel like a kid again. It reminded him of a time when he would skip math class to lock himself in a bathroom stall, begging for a moment of peace. 

It was impossible to pick a sound to focus on. It was all too much, too loud. 

Come on, Kal. He tried to console himself. Clark flipped onto his left side, staring out at the Metropolis cityscape, and pushed himself to focus. Pick a sound, any sound. There were ugly grunts that suggested the loss of innocence and people yelling at pedestrians as they sped along the boulevards. He heard children crying themselves to sleep and late night infomercials on the televisions that had been long since abandoned for sleep. He heard fans and air conditioning units, working overtime to compensate for the city's current heat wave. There were millions of heartbeats, thumping in a chaotic order with varying paces.

Clark took a deep breath.

It was the same as any other night. There were no major League plans that would take place tomorrow, no villainous plot to thwart. There was no reason he shouldn’t be able to sleep. It was a deeply average Tuesday night (Or at this point, morning. Last time he checked, the clock was nearing 2 AM).

In all honesty, Clark needed the noise, grunts, cries and all. He needed something, anything, that would distract him. He couldn’t ignore the hundreds of sounds that plagued, because even a city away, all he could hear was him. 

Across the bay, Bruce was having a nightmare. 

Clark grunted and flipped onto his back. He had shut all the windows, turned on a fan, and covered his head with his pillow in hopes of silencing the sounds that anguished him. The sounds Bruce was making.

Look, Clark is a caring guy. He would never want to hear anyone have a nightmare. Fear in a time where all you want is rest isn't fun, plain and simple. It's just that it's different with Bruce. Bruce is the strongest person Clark has ever known (Well except for Diana but that's a conversation for a different time). He never shows any sort of weakness, even when he has been beaten down by some of the league most aggressive adversaries. So to hear him sound so helpless? It just strikes Clark a little harder than he’d like to admit. He knows he shouldn’t care so much about Bruce. After all, they´re just work colleagues.

But god… he was so loud. 

How long do dreams last? How long had Bruce been thrashing through the sheets? Clark could hear his sweat hitting the mattress in thick drops. His heart beat like a hammer and Clark couldn't take it anymore. 

“That’s it, I give up,” Clark mumbled to himself. He reached aside and unlocked his phone. 3:47. It had been two and a half hours since Bruce came back from his relatively short patrol. Normally, Bruce would stay out all night, coming home just before the first rays of light shine across the skyline, but not tonight. For some reason, he decided to cut it short. So when Clark heard Bruce going to bed several hours ago, he was glad. His friend deserved a good nights rest. Unfortunately, it seemed that neither of them was getting much rest. Clark was officially exhausted and not for the first time did he wrestle down the urge to fly over and wake the man. However, he knew from past experience that was the wrong move. Not that it hurt his Kryptonian skin much, but a punch in the face from the Dark Knight wouldn’t exactly be at the top of Clark´s list of the most relaxing things.

According to his memory, Bruce had a nightmare usually roughly once a month.

“Please” Bruce gasped into the pillow. “Please be-”

This one seemed to be one of the bad ones. Well, they were all bad. But this… this was the worst kind.

Some nights Bruce would growl and lash out, some nights he would just lie impossibly still; only his heart and the salty smell of his sweat showing his terror, and some nights he would curl up into a ball and tremble. Tonight though? Tonight he was crying.

“-alive… you have to be-”

Maybe if he moved quickly, Clark could wake Bruce up and disappear before getting socked in the face.

“Please…” 

A new feeling arose in Clark’s chest at the sound of Bruce’s breathless plea. It radiated under his ribcage and spread like shattered glass. What was happening, Clark didn’t know. To him or to Bruce. 

“I… have to be… enough…”

Clark needs to wake him up.

“…alive… I… have to… please… I need to be…”

But that’d be creepy right? Surely Bruce would think that it was creepy Clark was listening to him sleep. But maybe he wouldn’t mind this time. Maybe he wouldn’t mind if Clark took a quick trip to Gotham and nudged him awake.

“…enough!” Bruce abruptly sat up and started taking deep breaths. Clark gratefully sighed. The prospect of hearing a second more of Bruce´s anguish was getting to be too much. Clark focused in on the billionaire and heard him get up to turn on a shower. Slowly, Bruce's heartbeat slowed and his breathing steadied. The saltiness of sweat and tears rinsed down the drain as Bruce curled up on the shower floor, his head resting on his knees. 

Clark didn't want to be able to hear Bruce's struggles, but the nightmares were normally short lived and infrequent. Most of the time, he could put it behind him and forget, never mentioning it to him or finding the need to comment how he was concerned about Bruce's wellbeing. But this was the fourth one in a week, and Clark was officially worried. But right now, Clark needed sleep. He could figure out a way to help Bruce tomorrow.  
-  
“You look awful,” A familiar voice said from behind Clark.

“Well good morning to you too, Lois.” Clark turned around to look at his friend and saw her smile. He had just walked off the elevator, extra large coffee in hand, and was making his way to his desk.

“I’m serious. Were you up all night or is there some special type of kryptonite that turns you ugly?” Lois joked as she took the coffee from Clark’s grasp to take a large gulp. Clark rolled his eyes. The two of them made their way through rushing interns and stressed writers trying to find the next big scoop suitable for a cover story. 

“First off, rude. Second, you’d think a reporter who has faced death threats for protecting her anonymous sources would be better at subtlety.” Clark placed his bag on his desk and reached for his coffee back.

Lois relented the cup and gave him that smirk she got when she was onto something, “Hmm, evading the question. So you were up all night.” She crossed her arms. 

“I may have been unable to fall asleep.” He explained. Lois’ eyebrows raised, encouraging him to explain. “It was nothing, don’t worry about it.”

“Uh huh, sure Smallville. Well, when you want to admit what --or who-- had you up all night, I’ll be waiting.” she chided as sat on his desk. Clark looked up at Lois’ not-so-innocent smile from his seat and picked up on her implication.

“Oh- it- no, no one was keeping me awake. That’s not- it’s not like that.” He tried to explain as logged into his computer.

“Mhm, sure. Whatever you say. You can tell after the meeting with Perry. Apparently, someone bought the paper and they’re having some meeting with the higher-ups.” 

“Someone bought The Daily Planet? Who?” Clark looked at her, confusion in his features.

Lois shrugged, “I don’t know, I think they’re trying to keep it a surprise. Don’t seem to be a huge fan of the press for someone that just bought a newspaper.” The sound of commotion halted their conversation as the two saw a herd of people surrounding the elevator. “Must be them. I guess it’s time for that meeting.” Lois got up from the desk and made her way closer to the commotion, nodding her head for Clark to follow.

As the Kryptonian followed Lois, he kept his eye on the crowd. People started to make way at the edge for the mystery man. Clark realized he could hear something familiar, the same thing that kept him up at last night, except it was louder, no, closer. The sea of people broke apart and he appeared. There, in the middle of Clark’s office stood the one and only Bruce Wayne in all his playboy glory, casually buttoning his suit and acting as if he was perfectly well rested and had not kept Clark awake until four in the morning. To be fair, he didn’t know he kept Clark awake, or that Clark was even listening to his heartbeat in the first place. Their eyes met: Clark’s electric indigo to Bruce’s hard-edged artic blue. And then Bruce gave him this smirk like he knew every last one of Clark’s secrets and headed directly toward him. 

What was Bruce doing and why on God’s green earth did he decide to buy the Planet? Was this some sort thing billionaires did when they were bored because if so Clark was NOT amused. Clark probably shouldn’t have wasted his time trying to understand Bruce Wayne of all people but honestly-

“Excuse me?” Clark was brought out of his internal rambling by a velvety baritone voice. “Are you okay, Mr. Kent?” He looked up into Bruce’s eyes and was at a loss for words.

“I- uh” he stuttered, trying to make sense of what was happening to him.

Lois came up behind him and gripped his shoulders, “Don’t mind the country boy, he’s just a little tired. Hard to get good rest when your AC is out and it’s about a hundred degrees. Hi, Lois Lane.” She stuck her hand around Clark. Bruce took it with a chuckle.

“It’s wonderful to meet you, Ms. Lane. I have to say, your piece about modern human trafficking in last week’s paper was phenomenal. I’d love to hear more, specifically how you found such a phenomenal source linking it to those missing person cases.” Bruce explained with a grace only man who knew everything could have.

“Thank you, Mr. Wayne. It was my civic duty to report the story, really. I see you’ve met my colleague, Clark.” Lois moved aside and gestured to her friend.

“Please, call me Bruce, Ms. Lane. And yes, I was just about to ask Mr. Kent where the conference room was?” Bruce gave an amused look at Clark’s silence.

Perry appeared from behind the group in his office, “Mr. Wayne, you’re early! Please, the conference room is right this way.” He gestured down the hall with his arm and gave Clark a disapproving look.

“Right, of course, Perry.” Bruce walked past the pair of journalists. “Lovely to meet you, Ms. Lane. Another time Clark.” He sent a wink towards Clark and he turned away and left Lois with her dumbstruck friend.

“Um, what was that? Clark, why was Bruce Wayne acting like he knows you? And why did you freeze like some love-struck teenager?” Lois asked, laughter filling her tone.

Clark took a deep sigh and rubbed a hand across his face. “I swear to God if I wasn’t so worried about him I would kill.”

“Worried about him?? What do you mean wo- oh my god. Oh my god! Did you sleep with Bruce Wayne last night? Is that why he winked at you? Clark, please tell me you-” Lois rambled with excitement in her voice.

“What no shut up! I did-” Clark lowered his voice, “I did not sleep with him. He’s a colleague.” Clark explained, putting an emphasis on the word colleague. He looked at Lois waiting for the words to settle in.

“Oh. OH” she turned at looked at Bruce through the glass walls of the conference room as he spoke to Perry and a few other officials, board members, chief editors, and company lawyers. “Bruce Wayne?? Really?” She mouthed the word Batman to Clark and he nodded, putting a look of deep contemplation on her face. She nodded her herself as she thought through the idea and the confusion left her features. “That still doesn’t explain the wink.”

“Lois, he’s a playboy he’s just like that. And I didn’t even know he was buying the paper. He decided to keep that from me.” Clark grumbled.

So why did Bruce Wayne buy the paper you work at? I mean that can’t be a coincidence.” questioned Lois. 

“I don’t know,” Clark said as he turned to look at him. “That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”


End file.
